Armenia has not withdrawn single claim in international courts - .  Siranush Sahakyan

ArmInfo. Even if Armenia and Azerbaijan drop their claims in international courts, the final decision will be made by the Court. Siranush Sahakyan, head of the Center for International and Comparative Law and representative of  Armenian prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),  announced this at a press conference on January 17.

She noted that, for example, the ECHR will certainly take the  political context into account, but the mere intention to drop the  claims is not sufficient if the Court finds that the "interests of  justice" standard requires continued investigation.

Citing her own information, Sahakyan stated that all of Armenia's  claims in international courts are valid. "I believe there are no  grounds for withdrawing the claims, since after the preliminary  signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the  subsequent processes-signing, ratification, and entry into force-must  take place. Only after the agreements enter into force must the  parties submit to the Court their intention to withdraw their claims  within one month," she explained.

As a reminder, on September 28, 2023, Armenia filed a lawsuit against  Azerbaijan with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for  allegedly violating the International Convention on the Elimination  of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against the Armenian population  of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia also filed four complaints with the  European Court of Human Rights. One concerns crimes and human rights  violations that occurred during the 44-day war in 2020, the second  concerns the trials of Armenian prisoners of war in Baku. Another  case concerns the invasion of Armenian territory by Azerbaijani  forces and the crimes committed there. 

The final complaint concerns the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh,  massive human rights violations, and ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile,  Azerbaijani media, citing the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  reported that on November 19, 2024, the Azerbaijani government  submitted the main document of the lawsuit against Armenia to the  Permanent Arbitration Court, accusing the Armenian side of allegedly  violating Azerbaijan's sovereign rights to energy resources. It  should also be noted that the Armenian Prime Minister, in an  interview with the Senior Director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia  Center in Washington, touching on the withdrawal of mutual claims  from international courts, once again expressed his willingness to do  so, provided that Azerbaijan abandons this issue in bilateral  relations.